Built, qualified, launched: 3 down, about 997 to go until we see a manned private space station. Kudos to Bigelow, at least someone got something right. That'll give them the required experience to overcome the inevitable glitches and maybe failures, and find success at the end.

Cheers
Max

_________________There's space for all of us, if each will leave some space for the next one

The ideas expressed above are my own, not necessarily those of my employer.

Successful launch is a great achievement, but this is the first time inflantable stuff being in space. I suppose they need to verify if the module is alright and then go ahead with its deployment (inflation).

Has anyone found an mission agenda or some sort?

I have only found that Bigelow Aerospace is going to use its telemetry for a long time. Will it be fully pressurised? I think this module won't be perfectly sealed, so it will loose air (what gas will be used to pressurise it?) over time. Are there any reserves prepared to maintain pressure at desired level?

I just found out that on a full-scale module, each wall would be 40cm (16 inches) thick... that seems to be very thick to me..
I'm still adding all information I find onto this websites news section:
http://www.spacefellowship.com/News/?p=1614

This mission seems to be going from good to better all the time. Bigalow reports confirmation that the vehicle has expanded as planned and the solar arrays have also configured successfully. I imagine that they've already got video happening as all the other telemetry appears to be operational.

With respect to the wall thickness, Bigalow say that it will provide better protection for micro meteors, radiation, etc than the existing solid structures of the ISS, Shuttle and other space vehicles and I think that it's the laying effect that provides this improved protection. Different materials for different purposes sandwiched together. Not a new concept but a new concept for space habitation.

Hindsight is 20:20 however Bigalow's success here is not as surprising as it might seem at first except that it appears to have gone right first time. And this is of interest because it is so rare in the space industry. Remember that Bigalow's background is contracting and to make money (and he's made a lot) you got to be very good at it. He seems to have approached this enterprise in the same manner not relying on single contractors but several in each area of expertise and developing them as well up to his standards. This gives him a number of similarly skilled contractors to choose the best from and hence underpins his success.

Next sheduled launch is Aug. 6: Dnepr to launch Genesis-2 from Dombarovskiy. Delays of about a month are common so it'll probably be September instead.

Bigalow have indicated that even if they run into some problems along the way, they intend to fly their vehicles pretty much to schedule so as to get experience and hard data.

Any way nice to see this going ahead. By the way, this is off topic but it makes it all the more important to get moving on space and planetary habitation and transport. Anyone heard of Peak Oil and the potential impacts likely on the World should this event take place? Very scary